The objective of this proposal is to obtain partial support for travel expenses for invited speakers and discussion leaders for a Gordon Conference on Fertilization and the Activation of Development to be held at Holderness School, Plymouth, NH, on August 17-21, 1987. The purpose of the Conference is to bring together scientists investigating gametes and gamete interactions at the molecular and cellular levels to discuss contemporary investigations in the field so as to generate new thinking and approaches to fundamental questions in fertilization. Primary topics which will be addressed during the Conference include: 1) sperm-egg receptors, 2) biophysics of sperm-egg interactions, 3) control of fertilization by modification of the egg envelope, 4) regulation of gamete function by membrane alterations, 5) mechanims of the acrosome reaction, 6) cytoplasmic control of nuclear transformations, 7) structure- function relations of gamete proteases, 8) alternative modes in fertilization.